We never cease to be amazed by the incredible stories of courage, bravery and dedication shown by young people from all walks of life in Redbridge.

Now the Recorder is urging our readers to help us recognise and celebrate their achievements through our Young Citizen Awards.

Whether it’s by charity fundraising, fighting illness, caring for others or standing up for a cause, our monthly awards are a fantastic way to give something back to young friends, family, neighbours or colleagues.

Each week, we will share their stories in the Recorder, with a monthly winner chosen by a panel of experts, including Recorder editor Chris Carter.

Those monthly winners will then be entered into the Mayor’s annual community awards next year.

If you know someone who you think deserves to be recognised for their efforts, please email amie.keeley@archant.co.uk and tell us who you want to put forward and why, including your nominee’s contact details.

Founder Eve Conway-Ghazi, from the Rotary Club of Redbridge, started up the awards in 2008 in conjunction with the Recorder.

She said: “The awards are a great way to show just how many amazing and inspirational young people there are out there.

“When we founded the awards in 2008, we wanted to counter-balance the negative stereotypes of youth that we were often seeing in news stories about anti-social behaviour, knife crime and some cases of youngsters killing each other.

“We hoped the awards would show that the majority of youngsters in our community are not like that.

“There are so many young people who are doing fantastic and amazing work, and who are really making a difference in their communities and going out of their way to help others.

“I believe the Young Citizen Awards help create positive role models for young people, to show other youngsters just what sorts of things they can achieve if they put their minds to it.

“Our nominees become positive role models for other young people.

“It is so important to highlight their achievements, because young people are all our futures.

“This year’s winner Lucy has become involved with Rotary’s Youth Exchange programme. She is an example of the important contribution that young people are making to today’s society.

“Lucy has used her own difficult experience as a victim of abuse to warn youngsters about the dangers by visiting schools, etc and she has taken on an important role helping other victims and their families.

“People don’t want to talk about sexual abuse.

“It’s a subject people feel uncomfortable to talk about, which protects abusers.